Early in the research, Jang snapped this photo of a diffraction pattern created by a metasurface. Says Jang: "The varying intensities of individual diffraction spots actually follows the predicted values that were calculated from the original 'design' of the randomness. That was a critical moment for us because that result implies that the optical randomness now can be 'controlled,' which contradicts with the traditional concept of optical randomness." Credit: Mooseok Jang

The latest advance in a new type of optics aimed at improving microscopy started with a game of tennis three years ago between Mooseok Jang a graduate of Professor Changhuei Yang's lab and Yu Horie working with Professor Andrei Faraon. "The hope is that our work will prompt further interest in this area of optics and make this type of microscopy and its advantages feasible for practical, everyday use—not just as a proof of concept," says Josh Brake, a graduate student in Yang's lab who continues to work on the project with Faraon and Yang. [Caltech story]